Happily Never After
by MayonakaHosenki
Summary: Cinderella never really got her happily ever after with Prince Charming after the ball. Will she be able to find it elsewhere? Beauty found it with a beast, so how hard could it be for her? Could it be possible to find in the Cloud Kingdom with a not-so-charming mutt?


**Happily Never After**

Well hello there Mr./Ms. Whatever-your-name-is… So nice of you to drop by and take a look at my story even though the characters may have given you second thoughts. As much as I love Snow and Bigby, this small, rebel part of me kept shouting Cindy x Bigby. I can't help it since I thought the two would be so badass; Bigby being the badass sheriff and Cinderella being his badass secret agent. I loved the part of Chapter 50 when they were at the Cloud Kingdom so I thought I'd make a oneshot about it. So that's about it for my defense of the ship and now it's time to let you read this story of mine. Enjoy!

"I'd better be near the top. I'm running out of beanstalk." Cinderella heard the low, gruff voice of her former boss complain as he climbed to the final meter of the beanstalk. Cinderella laughed inwardly as she turned to the direction of the beanstalk, walking towards the amusing sight of the former sheriff clinging onto the beanstalk for the love of his life.

"Yes, you're at the top, Bigby." Said Cinderella, barely able to contain the amusement in her voice.

"Who's that? I don't think I can turn around without shifting my weight too much. This thing's ready to snap off under me as it is." Ouch. Centuries of working together and her voice wasn't even recognized by the big bad wolf. Cinderella decided to let it slide, though. Could be that the wolf was focusing too much on staying alive to think about whose voice belonged to who.

"You can step down now, Bigby. The cloudscape is solid beneath you." Cindy said, trying to sound both reassuring and teasing.

"It wasn't when I climbed up through it." Bigby whined still with his gruff voice, not quite trusting the voice behind him. But then it hit him. Who else would have dared to mock him in such a position?

"Cindy, is that you?"

"Yes it is me and you can really get down. It's solid from the top, even though you could just easily pass through from below. That's the way the enchantment works." Cindy explained as a mocking smirk crept its way to her lips. "Honestly, Bigby, I don't think I've ever seen you so scared of anything before." The idea seemed so appealing to her. She definitely had to find out about other things that scared him. Wouldn't hurt to have some kind of blackmail material against the big boss.

"And you still haven't. Nervous isn't the same as scared. Remember, me and my kind didn't evolve from monkeys like you and yours. I don't have climbing high-wired into me from a million generations past." The adjective used by Bigby didn't quite convince Cinderella, but his explanation sure did.

"Okay, okay, point taken. But you can really jump down, see?" She said before taking a few jumps as to prove her point to the big bad wolf. "I'm jumping up and down right next to you and I'm not falling down." Didn't come from monkeys he said. Just look at how he's clinging to the beanstalk though. If Cindy didn't know better, she'd say he looked like a monkey desperately clinging onto the last piece of vine in the forest. "Trust me, I've been living here for months, preparing the way for you with the locals. There's really no need to be scared."

"Nervous." Bigby corrected the former princess as he scanned the cloudscape below.

"Right. Nervous. That's what I said."

Bigby sighed in defeat. Cinderella guessed that he realized that he had to do this for the sake of Fabletown. The wolf then shifted his weight, getting ready to jump off the beanstalk.

"Okay. Here goes nothing."

"If you do fall through, you'll have a long time to regret listening to me on the way down." Cinderella added smartly as he jumped down, taking joy in exchanging smart jabs with her former boss.

"Very funny. You've got quite the cruel streak in you, princess." Bigby remarked as he landed on the solid ground (cloud?), relieved that his former agent wasn't planning any shenanigan on him.

"Which is why we always got along so well." Cindy replied. Both knew it was true. She knew she was Bigby's favorite female agent back when he was the sheriff, and she took pride in that fact. Shame she didn't make the cut to Bigby's favorite girl though.

You see, Cinderella seemed to get the habit of liking the guy who liked Snow White first. Her ex-husband's first wife was the lovely princess Snow White, and unfortunately, the mutt who wasn't as charming but made it to her standards anyhow also got snatched away by the aforementioned princess. Not that she held any kind of grudge against Snow; she just really needed to fix her taste in men.

"Young Humberjon is taking us to the wizard Ulmore's castle. That's our staging area for the mission." Cinderella briefed to Bigby as they rode on said giant's hand with miles and mile of the sky to see.

"Nice view." Bigby commented with sincere awe for the breathtaking scenery before him. What was that thing about breathtaking sceneries and romantic moments again? Probably never gonna occur for poor Cindy, she thought to herself.

"Here. It might take us a while to get there, so it's the perfect time to start reading. These are your mission orders." She said, handing a pile of papers to Bigby.

"You have to memorize all of your instruction before you go. We can't let you take the physical documents with you." She added as she took her seat next to the big bad wolf who was currently going through the mission instructions. It felt pretty weird for her considering the fact that she's giving instructions to her former boss. They've been working together for centuries after all.

Cinderella didn't know how long it took for them to arrive at their destination, but it was long enough just for her to remember the first mission when Bigby himself had joined her. Her life would have ended along with the mission if it weren't for the wolf's presence and some little huff and puff. She swore Bigby looked so much like a knight in shining armor during that time. Nope Cinderella, she told herself, no more shining stuff.

"Are you ready to go, Bigby? Got all your equipment?" Cinderella asked as she helped Bigby get ready for his insertion into the homelands. Once Bigby's done with his work, Cindy was going back to play the espionage game and Bigby's going back to his pack. Back to Snow and probably never to work with her ever again.

"I hope so. There's no room for anything else." Normally, the blonde ex-princess would make one last smartass remark upon her former boss's departure, but this one time she chose to keep quiet as the big bad wolf jumped down from the sky. She was too busy running between the normal shoe store owner life and the spy life to think about her love life. Let her sulk about that while her second chance in happily ever after slips away from her. She would have something to keep her mind preoccupied at the very least.

Much later, we'll find Snow White grinning ear-to-ear in the arms of Bigby Wolf, wondering if happily-ever-after was possible after all. For them, it might be. But for Cinderella, it was just no longer an option.

So there you have it. Hope you liked this story! If you did, feel free to favorite and leave a review. Thanks for reading!


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